Marks of You
by Monroe-Militia
Summary: Charlie wakes up one morning with Connor's name on her wrist... She's heard the stories, she knows that when someone's name appears on your wrist that it means that they're your soulmate. She just doesn't like it.
1. Chapter 1

Charlie had heard about this happening, but she had always thought that it was a myth. She didn't think that it ever really happened to anyone, she just thought that it was some cheesy fairy tale. This sort of thing definitely was not supposed to happen in real life.

She scrubbed and scrubbed at her wrist, desperately willing the ink to go away even though she knew that it was hopeless.

At first it had just been a faint pattern, so light that she couldn't even tell for sure that it had been writing. Like it hadn't been definitive, as if it had been written in pencil and able to change. But now, now it was written very clearly in thick, dark letters that covered her wrist.

Charlie could feel tears forming in her eyes and forced herself to push them back as she finally gave up and stopped scrubbing at her raw, red skin.

"Charlie, are you alright in there?" Miles' voice came through the doorway.

She took a deep breath before turning and opening the door.

"What happened?" He asked as soon as he saw the look on her face.

Charlie wordlessly held up her wrist in response.

Miles stared at the red flesh that was only accented by the name inked upon it. **CONNOR BENNETT**.

"What, you got drunk and got Mini-Monroe's name tattooed on your wrist to match the real-Monroe branding on the other one?" Miles questioned with an amused smirk, which quickly fell when Charlie didn't smile in response.

"I didn't get a tattoo," Charlie responded. "It started showing up over a week ago, but you could barely see it. You couldn't tell what was written. But now... You've heard the stories, Miles. I don't want my fate to be Mini-Monroe."

That wasn't exactly true. That was what really scared Charlie, the fact that she had already been struggling to push away her feelings that had been developing for Connor. What if she really was destined to be with Connor? What if he turned into what his father had used to be?

"Well you said that this thing faded in, maybe it'll fade back out eventually," Miles suggested.

"We both know that's not how it works, Miles," she responded with a tear still shimmering in her eye.

"I know, I just thought that the appropriate thing to do in this situation was to lie to you," Miles told her with a faint smile. "Here, take my jacket so that you can cover it up."

"Thanks," Charlie said with a weak smile as she pulled her uncle's too big leather jacket on.

She looked in the mirror and was relieved to see that, although it clearly did not fit right, it did hang low enough to cover the mark on her wrist. In fact, the sleeves went all the way down to her knuckles.

"Looking good, kid," Miles commented, causing Charlie to laugh a little. "Come on, we've got to head out."

* * *

By noon, the Mathesons and the two Monroes had already been walking for hours with the sun beating down on them. It was an especially hot day and the midday sun was up in full effect.

"I don't know how you're wearing Miles' jacket right now, Charlie," Bass commented. "I can barely keep my shirt on."

Miles shot Bass a glare. Bass didn't understand why he was being glared at and shot his friend back a confused look that only caused Miles to roll his eyes and look away.

"He's right, it is pretty hot out," Connor agreed with a grin. "Maybe _you_ should take _your_ shirt off, Charlie."

" Shut. Up." Charlie responded through gritted teeth without even turning to look back at him.

Bass was right; it was way too hot for this jacket. She was practically passing out from heat stroke, but there was absolutely no way that she was taking it off and showing off her new marking.

"Ooh, someone's more short-tempered than usual," Connor commented as he picked up his pace to walk next to her. "That's okay, I like my women hot."

Rachel and Bass simultaneously turned to shoot Connor 'Are you kidding me?' looks, while Miles shot Charlie a look that was a cross between sympathetic and amused.

"Fine. If you're not going to take your shirt off, then I'll just have to take off mine," Connor continued. "Just try not to drool too much, you're probably already dehydrated."

Charlie tried to keep ignoring him as she continued to look straight ahead instead of turning to see if he had really taken his shirt off or not. That didn't last very long though, since less than thirty seconds passed before she heard Bass's angry voice coming from behind them.

"What the hell is that?"

Charlie quickly looked down to make sure that her mark was still covered up before she heard Monroe speaking again.

"Connor, what the hell is that on your wrist?" He insisted.

Charlie stopped walking and turned in horror.

"What, this?" Connor asked his father innocently as he held up his wrist and smirked over at Charlie. "That would be Charlie Matheson's name. Charlotte Matheson, to be exact... Funny, isn't there a story about what it means when someone's name appears on your wrist? ...What does that mean again, Charlie?"

Charlie quickly turned away from him and started walking again, this time at a faster pace. Connor quickly moved to catch up to her, causing the rest of the group to follow suit.

"Oh please tell me that she isn't wearing that jacket to cover up the fact that his name is on her wrist," Bass begged to no one in particular. "Connor, _please_ tell me that you got drunk and stupid and tattooed her name on your wrist out of moronic desperation."

For once Connor was silent.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" Bass complained. "You two aren't seriously soulmates."

"Shut up, Bass!" Miles said, this time out loud. "For once in your life can you realize that this isn't about you?"

Charlie was beyond sweating and it had become abundantly clear that there was no point in even trying to hide her mark. The only way that she would convince them that she didn't have one would be if she could show them that her wrists were unmarked and there was no way that could happen, at least not anymore. There was no point in making herself sweat until she passed out if they were going to find out either way.

She braced herself before she slowly removed Miles' jacket and tossed it back over to him. As she moved to put her arm back down, Connor reached out and lightly grabbed it to stop her.

A tilted smirk formed on his lips as he commented, "So you do have one too."

"Why do you sound so surprised?" Charlie questioned, ripping her arm out of his grasp, not that it took very much effort when he wasn't resisting her action.

"Because I've had mine since the day I met you. And while I've been trying to cover mine up, you've been walking around in a belly-shirt perfectly mark-free," he told her.

There had been a few times where he had thought that he'd seen something during the last week, but when it had been too light and hadn't looked like letters he had just assumed that it was dirt.

"You've had yours since the first day?" Charlie asked, studying his face in confusion. "Then why did mine just show up now?"

"I don't know, maybe it only shows up when you subconsciously realize who it is," Connor replied. "I'm going to kiss you now. So if you're planning on stopping me, I'd prefer if you told me now instead of hitting me and messing up my face afterwards."

As Charlie's thoughts struggled to catch up to his words, he leaned forward and brought his lips to hers. All of her thoughts came to a screeching halt as their lips met.

The kiss didn't last long. Connor wasn't trying to prove anything with that kiss, he didn't need to. The marks on their wrists were proof enough and he didn't need a big make-out scene now. He just wanted to give her the gentle nudge that she needed to admit to herself that their markings were right. That there was something real there.

Charlie's mind didn't start functioning again until Connor had already started walking again as if nothing had happened. Or at least that's how it appeared to Charlie who couldn't see the giant grin set on his lips.

"You coming, Charlie?"

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! This story is dedicated to connormonroeismyking (Steph-Schell on here) who requested the ficlet that became this first chapter. :)  
**


	2. Chapter 2

Charlie seemed to come back to her senses as she wiped a hand across her mouth to try and wipe away the touch of Connor's lips before she loudly declared, "Eww."

Everyone but Connor seemed amused.

"What do you mean eww?" Connor questioned as he turned and began to walk backwards so that he could face her as he spoke. "You kissed me back. Plus I warned you that I was going to kiss you. I gave you the chance to stop me. You didn't take it."

An arrogant smirk adorned his lips as he stared at her, challenging her to try and disagree with him.

"I did not kiss you back," Charlie insisted. She wasn't lying. Her brain hadn't even caught on to what was happening until after he had pulled away. "And maybe if you'd given me time to react before kissing me, then I would have stopped you."

"Maybe," he agreed with his smirk still firmly in place. "But I don't think so."

Charlie rolled her eyes in annoyance. "You are so full of yourself."

"It's not the end of the world to admit that you liked it, being kissed by me, you know," he pointed out. "The wrists don't lie."

With that he held his arm up to once again show off his marking.

Charlie knew that he was right, at least about the wrists not lying. She also knew that she'd been developing feelings for Connor even before her marking had shown up. She even knew that she had enjoyed the kiss. But that didn't mean that she had to admit those things to Connor… That didn't mean that she was just going to give up and accept her fate as the girlfriend of some power-hungry wannabe dictator.

"Maybe not," she told him, causing him to quirk an eyebrow at her in surprise. "Which is why I'd do anything to get your name off of my body."

Charlie was strangely quiet on the rest of the way back to Willoughby as she remained absorbed in her own thoughts.

What felt like decades ago, but really had been just over a year ago, there had been a woman in the village where Charlie had spent most of her life that had used to tell all of the kids a bunch of legends about markings. She seemed to know what she was talking about and Charlie now regretted how she had used to roll her eyes and whisper with Danny instead of listening.

When she was young, Charlie had been more excited in learning to hunt and exploring the woods than she was in what she had assumed were just fairy tales. That had really backfired now, but she wondered if Lucille was still there... If Lucille was still alive.

Charlie hadn't been back to the village since her dad's death and she knew that it would only be even more difficult going back without Danny and Maggie, but at the same time she needed to know if there was some way to get rid of the marks. She knew that it was unlikely that she'd be able to find a solution, but there was still a small chance and that glimmer of hope was exactly what she really needed right now. She needed hope and a mission to keep her distracted… To keep her from giving up and just accepting her fate or overthinking things.

It wasn't that Connor was terrible, but she didn't want to get involved with somebody whose main goal in life was to have everyone bowing down to him. Besides, she liked having a choice in her life. She didn't like being told who she would spend the rest of her life with, even if it was by her own wrist.

Plus, as much as she really hated to admit this to anyone including herself, there was a part of her that was still scared to let anybody else in. She'd lost too many people in the last year and a half for her to feel comfortable getting close to anyone else. It was one thing to have Connor around for banter and, okay, maybe the occasional flirting. It was another thing for her to let herself dive in head first and get attached.

When she'd first found Miles in Chicago, Charlie had wondered how he could be so hesitant to let somebody new in. She had been so innocent and naïve that she had thought that he must be insane to want to live a lonely life and push everyone away, but now she got it. If you live alone you may hurt a little, but at least you aren't adding layers of grief on until you reach your breaking point. That was part of the reason that she wasn't ready to have anyone's name show up on her wrist.

* * *

When they did make it back to Willoughby it was already pretty late, but Charlie needed to talk to Connor alone. So when she noticed him sitting by himself outside, she decided it was the perfect opportunity… Too bad she had no idea how to really ask what she wanted to… Was there really any good way to try and ask your apparent soulmate to come with you on a long journey to try and get rid of your soulmate status?

She stood in the doorway, staring at his back, as she tried to figure out how to begin.

"You going to sit down Charlie?" He asked in a slightly amused tone as he turned his head to face her. "Or are you just planning on standing there all night with something you're clearly waiting to say?"

Charlie offered him the slightest of smiles in response before moving to sit down beside him.

They sat in silence for what felt like a long time before she finally looked back up at him and told him, "Look, I get that you're good with this whole marking thing. But I'm not… And I don't know if it's possible to get rid of them. But I do know somebody who I think would know… Or at least I used to…"

"And you want us to go find them," Connor told him. It wasn't a question. "You want us to go try and find a way to get rid of the markings… Okay."

Charlie's mouth had already been open, geared up for an argument, when she realized what he had said and shot him a look of confusion. "What, what?"

"You heard me. I said okay."

"Just like that?" She questioned. "No argument?"

"Just like that," he agreed with a slight smile.

It wasn't like arguing was going to make her change her mind and he wanted Charlie to want to be with him, not for her to give up and be with him just because his name was written on her wrist. Besides… Who knew how long it would take them to find whoever Charlie was talking about?

Connor certainly didn't, but what he did know was that he'd rather spend that time with Charlie than without her. He was sure that she would go without him if he didn't go and he wanted to spend that time with her. And maybe, just maybe, he'd get to spend enough time with her along the way that she would start to reconsider her decision.

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! Thanks for reading and an extra thanks to Sexy Meat Pies, CharlieMatheson, Bellabear9898, and Laura for the lovely reviews on the first chapter :)  
**


	3. Chapter 3

"Let me make sure that I've got this right. In order to try and get rid of Connor you're going to go on a long trip, just the two of you?" Miles questioned in a critical tone.

"To get rid of the markings," Charlie corrected. "But yes."

"I've got to say, that's one of the dumbest ideas that I've ever heard," Miles told her. "Including all of your other dumb ideas… And that's saying something."

"Thanks," Charlie replied sarcastically. "Look, it's not like I can just stroll on into Sylvania Estates with Monroe… Me and Connor both have to go. And there's no way that I'm bringing Mom, that'd be a disaster, so you two have to stay here to babysit Monroe and wait for Aaron to come back while me and Connor go."

"You're still the same dumb kid who found me in Chicago, you know that?" He questioned. "You're beyond naive if you think that this is going to turn out well for you."

"Yeah, and you're the same self-centred alcoholic that I found in Chicago too," she accused back with a grin.

The truth was that Miles wished that she really was the same innocent and naive girl that she had been back in Chicago. She worried him now, although he would never admit that to her face.

The world had changed Charlie. She had always been tough, but now she was more hardened... She had used to hand out second chances and used violence as a last resort. Now she killed without flinching and put up walls to shut people out.

She was starting to turn into him and that terrified him.

He knew that she had recurring nightmares. He'd seen the way that she'd tremble in her sleep or wake up breathing heavily with her hand searching for her weapon.

He'd mentioned it to her once, but she'd just brushed the conversation off and told him that she was fine. Miles has known that she was lying, but had decided not to push it.

Still, it worried him. He was all too familiar with the nightmares and he knew that what had come next for him was constant drinking to try and wash away the pain and he didn't want that for his niece.

That's why it was so nice to at least see a glimpse of the naive girl he had used to know. It let him think that maybe she wasn't too far-gone... That maybe she hadn't endured too much hurt to ever recover from...

"You're an idiot, Charlie," he told her with a fond smile.

"Maybe, but you're the moron that's going to miss me," she retorted as she pulled her uncle into a big hug.

Miles laughed as he hugged her tightly.

"I'll miss you too," she told him as she pulled away from him.

"Come on, you'd better get going," Miles told her. "Your soulmate's waiting for you."

She responded by hitting him in the chest, a little too roughly to be considered playfully, before heading out the door to where everyone else was waiting.

Rachel got the next opportunity to say goodbye to Charlie as she pulled her daughter into a hug.

"Look after yourself," Rachel told her.

"I will," Charlie promised. "But you and Grandpa had better look after those two morons and make sure they don't get into too much trouble."

Rachel had to grin a little at that as she released her hold on her daughter.

Next Charlie enthusiastically pulled Gene in for a hug.

"Try to keep Mom from killing them," she told him quietly.

"I can try…" Gene offered, knowing that there was no guarantee that he would be able to stop his daughter if she was in one of her stubborn moods.

Bass was the last in the line and Charlie hesitated in front of him for a second before she shot him a grin and told him, "Try not to go on any murderous rampages while we're gone."

"No guarantees," he responded with a smile.

After Charlie finished up her goodbyes there was a lengthy pause before Connor finally took a step closer to his father and said, "Look, I don't do the whole mushy goodbye thing. In my experience, that pretty much just guarantees that you won't see someone again. So… See you around, I guess."

With that Connor took a couple of steps backward, making it clear that he was not looking for a hug.

When Connor had last seen his mom, she'd given him a big heart-felt goodbye that had made it seem like she didn't think that she was ever going to see him again. And even though she hadn't, he thought that he still would have preferred a goodbye that would have left more hope of seeing her again.

Bass smiled at his son. Maybe he wasn't getting the hug-filled goodbye that Charlie was giving her family, but this was still a lot better than he might have expected. After all, Connor had basically just admitted that he didn't want to lose him and that was more than something.

"Yeah… See you later, kid."

Connor nodded at his father and then turned his attention to Charlie, "You ready to go?"

"Yeah," she told him before turning to walk with him.

They were making their journey on foot and leaving the wagon behind with the other four in case they needed it. That suited Charlie just fine. She liked the idea of returning on foot, the same way that she had left… She'd left to try and get something back and now she was returning to try and get rid of something. It all seemed to fit nicely.

Besides, travelling on foot would mean more distractions and less chances of driving herself insane from overthinking things that she wanted to block out.

"So, do I get to know where we're going?" Connor questioned as they began to walk away from their family members.

"Why? Are you afraid that I'm going to take you somewhere scary?" She asked with a grin.

"Not exactly," he responded. "But I figured that if I'm going with you, then you could at least tell me where we're going."

"I doubt you've heard of it," she told him. "Sylvania Estates… It's a village in Wisconsin that I grew up in."

"I see," Connor said with a suggestive grin. "So this is all just an elaborate plan to try and take me home with you?"

Charlie rolled her eyes at him. "Shut up."

"This trip is going to be awfully dragged out if I'm not even allowed to talk during it," he pointed out.

"And it's going to drag out even more if you _are_ allowed to talk," she retorted with a teasing smirk.

* * *

Bass turned away from where he had been watching the pair walk away to look over at Miles.

"They're going to come back as a couple, aren't they?" He asked unhappily.

"Maybe," Miles agreed. "But Charlie can be pretty damn stubborn when she wants to."

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! And a giant thanks goes out to Sexy Meat Pies, CharlieMatheson, decadenceofmysoul, Laura, and AngelsFallen for reviewing the last chapter :)  
**


	4. Chapter 4

"Why are you walking back there?" Charlie questioned as she turned to look back at Connor over her shoulder, only to catch him staring at her ass.

"Just enjoying the view," he responded with a smirk. "I mean there aren't many other forms of entertainment around, especially considering I'm not allowed to talk."

Charlie shook her head in annoyance before picking up her pace.

Connor just grinned to himself as he continued to watch the view.

* * *

Charlie woke up in the morning and shot straight up, gasping for air. It took a few seconds before she realized where she was and fell back onto the ground, relaxing a little.

"Are you alright?"

She turned her head to see Connor sitting a few feet away with a look of concern on his face.

"I'm fine," she mumbled as she sat back up.

"Really? Because that didn't seem like you were fine to me," he commented.

"Why did you ask if you weren't going to listen to my answer anyways?" Charlie questioned as she ran a hand through her hair. "I said I'm fine."

He opened his mouth to say something else, but she quickly cut him off.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Fine. We won't."

* * *

They'd been walking for a while when Connor decided to try and ease the tension a little.

"Somehow I didn't peg you as the growing up in a village kind of girl," he commented. "Seems like a village is too small to hold Charlie Matheson."

"I hated being stuck there," Charlie admitted. "It was supposed to be safe, but really it was just boring. I spent every day waiting to get out of there."

And now she almost wished that she hadn't. Things had been so much easier back in Sylvania Estates.

"Mexico wasn't that great either," Connor told her. "It wasn't exactly boring, but I still would have rather stayed in Indiana. I didn't exactly get a say in that though."

"I didn't really get a say in staying either," she responded. "I thought that I wanted out, but now I'm not so sure… But it doesn't really matter anyways. I can't go back to the way things were before. Not anymore."

"Seems like there's a lot of that going around these days," he replied.

Charlie wasn't sure exactly how she had ended up opening up to Connor, but she did know that she wasn't planning on telling him anything else about her life before leaving Sylvania Estates. She knew that she would probably have to eventually, since she was taking him back with her, but she wasn't ready to have to talk about the people that she had lost to Connor.

* * *

When they stopped for the night, Charlie immediately sat down and pulled her boots off of her feet and threw them a few feet away as she leaned back on her elbows.

She knew that it probably wasn't the best idea since they could end up getting attacked at any moment, but her feet were swollen from all of the walking and they were driving her insane. If she had to, she would fight bare-foot because she was exhausted and really couldn't stand to wear her shoes for a second longer.

Connor sat down at her legs and pulled her feet into his lap.

She lifted her head up and was about to ask what he was doing when he began to rub her feet and she cut her question short.

He shot her a flirty smile and she knew that she should probably stop him, but she couldn't quite make herself. Her feet were sore and she was not about to refuse a free foot massage.

Charlie really did not want to fall for Connor. She didn't want to fall for anyone, but she had already been developing feelings for Connor before his name had even appeared on her wrist. And even though he had agreed without a hint of a fight to come on this trip with her to get rid of the marks, it was clear that he was not going to make pushing away any feelings for him easy on her.

"Did you agree to come on this trip just so that you could flirt with me the whole time?" She asked him.

"Not just to flirt with you," he told her. "That's a part of it, but not all of it."

"Really?" Charlie asked in an amused tone.

"If you want to get rid of the marks, then fine," he told her. "I'm going with you, but that doesn't mean that I can't try and change your mind on the way."

"This is going to be a long trip, isn't it?" She asked him.

"That's what I'm hoping for," he responded with a grin.

She rolled her eyes at that.

"Look, I'm glad that you agreed to come with me, but I can guarantee you that I'm not going to change my mind on the way," Charlie assured him with a small smile.

"Well then I guess that means that you've got nothing to worry about," he replied.

"I guess so."

Charlie knew that she had plenty to worry about though. Miles has been right. She was in over her head on this trip and it was going to take a lot to try and fight her feelings for him. Her only hope was if they could get to Sylvania Estates soon, but it was quite the long walk and they weren't even halfway there.

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! A huge thanks goes out to Sexy Meat Pies, ambrown1022, and decadenceofmysoul for reviewing the third chapter. :)  
**


	5. Chapter 5

Charlie rolled her eyes and turned her gaze away as she toyed with the sleeve of her jacket where it covered her wrist. She could still hear the sound of the fake laughter that was making her want to reach for her knife.

Instead she just took another swig of her drink as she waited.

"I found us a place to stay," Connor told her as he walked up beside her.

She plastered on a fake smile as she turned to find him leaning against the bar-top with a look of self-satisfaction spread across his features.

"Is it that girl's bed?" Charlie challenged with an arched eyebrow.

"That offer might have come up," he admitted with a shrug before a teasing smirk began to play at his lips. "Why? Are you jealous?"

"In your dreams," she retorted. "…Go ahead."

Connor's gaze stayed locked with hers while his expression remained perfectly blank. Finally he realized that she wasn't going to take her words back, so he just shrugged the offer off.

"Nah," he told her. "I already found us a room we can rent for cheap."

Charlie didn't let her relief show. Instead she made herself appear perfectly indifferent as she asked, "You sure?"

Connor glanced back over at the girl that he'd been flirting with in order to gather information, only to find that she had already picked a new target to go after. She was leaning close to another guy with a hand placed on his chest.

"She's not worth the fight... Let's get out of here."

A small smirk formed on Charlie's lips at that, but by the time that Connor had turned his attention back towards her, her expression had already reverted back to its usual state.

* * *

Charlie and Connor stepped into what would be their room for the night. They weren't exactly overwhelmed by it.

It was a small, dank room decorated with a bunch of knick-knacks that would have been considered out of date even before the blackout. The paint on the walls was peeling, it was cramped and over-decorated, there were mysterious stains that they didn't even want to think about the sources of, and the one bed taking up most of the room was covered in lumpy pillows and a torn blanket.

It was pretty apparent why the room had been so cheap, but it was still better than sleeping on the hard ground. The last few nights had already been getting cold, so the rented room was unfortunately still the better option.

"Cozy," Connor commented sarcastically.

He'd slept in places like this back when he had been homeless and starving in Mexico, but he had certainly gotten used to a certain standard of comfort since then. Travelling with the Mathesons and his dad had been enough of a downgrade. He definitely did not plan on getting used to places like this again.

No, he was going to get the republic back with his father. And once he did, they were going to accept nothing less than the best.

Charlie got into the bed, choosing not to look at it too carefully before crawling in.

She had been expecting Connor to get into bed too, but instead she looked back to find him lying down on the floor.

"What are you doing?" She asked him.

"Being irresistibly charming by sleeping on the floor and letting you take the bed," he insisted as he turned to look over at her with a mischievous smile.

Charlie rolled her eyes at him. "Cute… But there's room in the bed."

* * *

"Why are you drinking this time?" Bass questioned as he stretched an arm out towards the bottle.

Miles looked between the bottle and Bass hesitantly, then took another swig before handing it over to the other man.

"I'm always drinking," Miles pointed out. "Who says there has to be a reason?"

Bass took a chug out of the bottle and handed it back over before pointing out, "You're always drinking, but there's always a reason for it. So what is it this time?"

Miles took another swig in order to stall from answering for a few moments longer before he finally admitted, "...Charlie?"

"Charlie?" Bass asked in surprise. "What about her? She isn't even here to be a pain in your ass."

"No, but she's turning into me," Miles pointed out. "Nightmares... Assuming the worst... Always angry. Killing without thinking twice..."

"_Charlie's _like _you_?" Bass challenged. "Connor's practically a mini-me. Only when I was his age, I had no motivation." He paused for several dragged out seconds before reaching to grab the bottle out of Miles' hands as he muttered, "He's going to turn into a worse version of me and I don't know how to stop it."

Miles let out a snort at that. "Like you aren't the one trying to get the republic back for him."

"I _was_ trying, now I don't know," Bass admitted. "I thought it was going to be better- I _wanted_ it to be better -but I'm not so sure that's a possibility anymore. He's too much like me... Too stubborn. And if I don't give him the republic, I'm going to lose him... But if I do- If Charlie's really turning into you and he's already like me... Miles, she's going to try to stop him. She's going to be able to do what you couldn't; she's going to pull the trigger... And he's going to let her."

Miles grabbed the bottle back and took another long chug.

* * *

Charlie woke up with a start, only to find herself lying in bed next to Connor, who was still fast asleep on his own side.

She tried to calm herself down as she breathed heavily, but she couldn't exactly tell herself that it hadn't been real.

The nightmares had gotten worse, a lot worse, since they had started their trip back to Sylvania Estates. This one had been about Danny. She could still see the look of confusion on his face as he had looked down at the bullet wounds in his chest.

How were you supposed to deal with nightmares when they were really just memories of the horrible things that you had witnessed?

Charlie felt her heart rate steady a bit, but she definitely was not ready to try to go back to sleep. Instead, she carefully got out of the bed without waking Connor.

The bar that they had been at earlier in the night wasn't too far of a walk and she could definitely use a drink to calm her nerves.

* * *

**A/N: Please read and review! A huge thanks goes out to decadenceofmysoul, ambrown1022, Sexy Meat Pies, and CharlieMatheson for being amazing and reviewing last chapter! :)  
**


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